Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-02-06

over Four Hundred Pupils Lsyss
90 . Dtsmtsse Teacher.
fPniiadelphis Prc4aI

over Four Hundred Pupfis Lsyss
20 . Dismiss Teacher.
Philadelphia PreseI
boycott the George B. Mcclellan
public school until Mrs. Spallen, our
teacher, is restored is our cry said
red-cheeSed little Tommy Murdoch last
evening at the corner Of Richmondand
William streets.
"And don't you fergit it," echoed
Willie Mcfarland, in q childish voice,
worn out by crying " rats at the po-
lice in Port Richmond all the live-long
day.
Four hundred and twenty-five OF the
FIVE hundred pupils in the Mcclellan
public school, Frankfort road above
Clearfield street, are cont" and have
been since Monday noon. IL was about
IL o'clock Monday morning when
Davy Tate, of the eleventh grade % A, ="
spelled separate with an "a, amid the
applause of the class. The little stu
dents then filed into the big room of
the school.
FAREWELL SPEECH.
Children" said Mrs. Spallen, q
widow of pleasant appearance. Every
thing was still. The boys knew some
thing was coming, and the girls pre-
pared for the worst. For fifteen
years I've been in the dear old school
| love you all dearly, but now / must
go. My best wishes go with you all.
There was not dry eye in the room.
The boys looked off toward the ship
yard and tried to be brave; but there
was little Gertie Benson and all the rest
of the girls around the teacher, crying
as if their little hearts would break. So
Willie Simmons, the leader of the
"gang," who can Jump the iron posts
on Diamond street with one hand, hid
his head ON the desk. The rest did the
same.
On Saturday, at a special meeting OF
the Committee on Examination of the
Board of Directors, DR.. Ziegler, j.
McGowen, Albert Webster, and Isaac
Schlecter voted to dismiss Mrs. Spal-
len against the protests of j. L.
DAILY and Charles Young, the
other two members present. II was
all about an examination which two OF
the members of the committee, Messrs.
McGowep and Schlecter, wanted held
in the old building The teacher said
she had made plans to hold it in the
new building, and would unless n ma
iority of the committee voted against it.
Harry Greedy agreed with the two. No
notice was given TO the teacher, and her
friends say she was dismissed on the
charge of INSTRUMENTATION. Miss Helen
Jones, teacher in the Henry w. Halli-
well School of the same section, was
elected to fill her place, and took charge
Monday afternoon.
INSTRUMENTATION BEGINS.
But few of the boys, however, at
tended school in the afternoon. A
mass-meeting was held in Willie Sim
mons's back yard. The attendance
was small. Eleven boys stood round
the wooden block ON which the host
took his stand. Willie said: Boys,
let's stick 'er out. My father is with us,
and what do we care if DIR. Ziegler is
against us. Don't forget your Sunday
school training. I'll never go back to
the school until they give us Mrs. Spal-
len. Applause. As Mad Anthony
Wayne said when he climbed Bunker
Hill Monument, Show your sand,
boys.
All day yesterday tumult reigned in
Port Richmond. The boys were on
hand at the school at o'clock, and Di-
rector Daley dropped round to hear a
geography class about IL o'clock, and
he says there were not more than IA
dozen boys and girls round the huge
building. Seventy-five would be IA
liberal estimate for the days attend
ance ont of the usual five hun
bred. Ten policemen stood round
the building. Every few minutes
they grabbed II hit of minute
humanity and hurried the wiggling,
yelling, kicking mass into one of the
big doors. After few minutes the
same boy could be seen coming out the
opposite side of the building, having
crawled through dusty holes and I'M
known passages in the cellar. A roar
of applause greeted the escaping
strikers, and the girls vino huddled
round one corner of the lot smiled and
clapped their little hands in admiration.
All during the day professions
marched the streets, crying, "Hurrah
for Mrs Spallen, the Best Teacher in
the World !" beating drums and waving
improvised flags. "NO Teacher, No
School !" Down with DR.. Ziegler 1"
Live and Learn " were some of the
sentiments that broke upon the air
during the day. At / o'clock a grand
mass convention was held on the pond
near the American ship-yard. Fully
three hundred boys attended. 1t was
decided to submit resolutions to the
Board of Directors, asking them to re-
store their teacher.
A BIG MAss-MEETING.
Just as it was voted to conclude it
yours respectfully" the ice gave way
and the delegates had narrow escape
from drowning. A number were del
uged to the neck. Tommie Murdoch,
one of the arch strikers, who said the
police were after him all day, went in